We Stand in Solidarity with the Democratic Struggle in Myanmar

By Venezuelan Workers Solidarity

Note by Venezuelanvoices: Posted originally in VWS‘s blog, we consider this text to be of great interest, as a political statement by venezuelan left activists in the diaspora and also because it adresses one of the most important contemporary developments in class struggle in the world, calling for solidarity and drawing parallels with the situation in Venezuela.

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In response to the February 1st military coup, a powerful revolutionary uprising of the youth, the working class and the peasantry has unfolded in Myanmar-Burma. The army has lost control of much of the country. It does not have it in the rural areas where the villages long-oppressed by the majority Bamar Buddhist bourgeoisie have taken up arms. Nor in the cities, where barricades have been erected and protests persist despite the repression, which has already claimed more than five hundred deaths in two months. An underground government has been formed, the Committee Representing the Union Assembly (CRPH). The Civil Disobedience Movement and strike committees play an important role. And important declarations have been reached in the heat of the struggle, proclaiming measures such as the abolition of the 2008 military constitution and the establishment of a Federal Democratic Republic that will accommodate all oppressed national minorities. In this sense, it is important that the recognition of citizenship and full democratic rights of Rohingya Muslims–who were victims of policies of ethnic cleansing and genocide by the military with the complicity of the civil authorities of the 2015-2020 period–be upheld.

The images of the assemblies, the mass marches and rallies and the general strike in which women textile workers have played a leading role, are inspiring for the peoples who fight throughout the world. A triumph for the peoples of Myanmar-Burma would provide invaluable lessons for all who believe that it is possible and necessary for the exploited and oppressed to take their destiny into their own hands through struggle.

For Venezuelan left-wing opposition activists, inside and outside Venezuela, some parallels between the situation in our country and that of Myanmar-Burma deserve to be highlighted. In Venezuela, we have had a military dictatorship since 2016, which crushed the popular rebellion of 2017 with blood and fire. Like the Thatmadaw military, the Chavista military participates in Venezuela’s main industry, oil, and has leading positions in State companies associated with transnational capital through joint ventures–even with some of the same companies that are present in Myanmar-Burma, such as Chevron and Total. 

In their insatiable corruption the military of Myanmar-Burma and Venezuela also resemble each other. Both have used, for example, gaps in currency exchange rates to loot state resources. And just as between 1962 and 1988 there was a military government that proclaimed a false “Burmese path to socialism”, in Venezuela since 2006 Chavismo has proclaimed to be building a “21st century socialism”–a huge political scam that has left intact capitalist production relations, fattened the so-called Bolibourgeoisie linked to the state apparatus, and after the sharpening of the Great Crisis in 2014, plunged millions of workers into misery and despair. We have had a bourgeois opposition subordinate to the US government, which by seeking negotiations with the Chavista government has betrayed the aspirations of the majority of the working people who oppose the military and Boliburgeoisie. This was especially so during the 2017 rebellion. Chavismo, for its part, has forged alliances with the governments of China and Russia, and aspires to stay in power indefinitely through force. Sooner or later we will rise again in Venezuela, relying on our own strength.

The heroic effort of the peoples of Myanmar-Burma deserves greater support from the other peoples of the world. It is very important to build a broad international movement in solidarity with the Spring Revolution, as the youth of Myanmar-Burma have called their fight against the coup. We pledge to contribute our modest efforts in that direction.